Washington, July 26 (IANS) Arrogant bosses are typically poor performers who can drain the bottom line by slighting subordinates to mask their own insecurities and creating organisational dysfunction.
A new measure of arrogance, called the Workplace Arrogance Scale (WARS), developed by researchers of University of Akron and Michigan State University, can help organisations identify arrogant managers before they damage them.
Arrogance is characterised by a pattern of behaviour that demeans others in an attempt to prove competence and superiority.
Stanley Silverman, professor of industrial and organisational psychology at Akron's Summit College, says this behaviour is correlated with lower intelligence scores and lower self-esteem when compared to managers who are not arrogant.
"Does your boss demonstrate different behaviours with subordinates and supervisors?" Silverman asks.
He says a "yes" answer could mean trouble.
Silverman warns that "yes" replies to these other questions raise red flags and signal arrogance, the journal The Industrial-Organisational Psychologist reports.
Silverman and his colleagues Russell Johnson, assistant professor of management at the Michigan State, and Nicole McConnell and Alison Carr, both doctoral students at Akron's Industrial and Organisational Psychology programme, conducted the research, according to an Akron statement.
Left unchecked, arrogant leaders can be a destructive force within an organisation, notes Silverman.
With power over their employees' work assignments, promotion opportunities and performance reviews, arrogant bosses put subordinates in a helpless position.
They do not mentor junior colleagues nor do they motivate a team to benefit the organisation as a whole, contributing to a negative social workplace atmosphere, says Silverman.
Silverman says arrogance is less a personality trait than a series of behaviours, which can be addressed through coaching if the arrogant boss is willing to change.
Silverman emphasises that cultivating humility among leaders and promoting a learning-oriented work climate go far in reducing arrogance and increasing productive leadership and employee social interaction.
WARS will be presented at the American Psychological Association convention in Orlando August 2 by Silverman.